No Man's Land
by Daqwoo
Summary: Star-Paladin Fox volunteered to make a trip across the wasteland between the East Coast and the Midwest. This patch of land belonges to no one, no order only chaos with one law: survive at all cost.
1. Prolog

**Thank you for chousing my story, this is my first Fallout fiction i come up with while visiting my friend and played Fallout 3 the first time. In this world I consider the Good Ending of Fallout Tactics to be canon, along with the Good Ending of Fallout 3: Broken Steel and such. Also in my story I go with the Legion Victory of Fallout New Vegas, according to my gameplay. I hope you will find it interesting and sorry for the bad english, I try to improve with time.  
**

* * *

 _\- Audio recording #14, 2281 May 27th/_

 _I don't know why I'm doing this but I have the feeling if I don't record then I'll lose my sense of reality._

 _I have been on the road for nearly one and a half month now; I have left the Capital Wasteland on April 10th and still nothing. My motorbike is running low on gasoline, I occasionally find gas stations that actually have some left in them but not much to keep me on the road for long._

 _So far my supplies of meds are sufficient, not much but not too low on stimpaks and radaways. There were nights when raiders jumpe me for them, but nothing I couldn't handle, I was actually glad they did sometimes, since those jet junkies had some useful stuff on them. Can't complain about ammo that is for sure, still I try to save as much as I can for the trip. I'm currently treading in No Man's Land so who knows what I will encounter._

 _My purpose of this journey is to deliver this canister to our Midwest branch of the Brotherhood of Steel. I remember Rothchild saying something about a place called Vault 0, our brothers and sisters have gained control over the area and they say it is relatively safe. Lyons made contact with them a year back; I recall them discussing things about the Western branch._

 _Lyons wants the two branches to cooperate, I don't know what is in this canister but it was found deep down in the Citadel's archives clarified as top secret Vault-Tech thing of a jig. I volunteered to take the trip, all the vertibirds are currently being deployed in New York and Philadelphia._

 _If anyone finds this recording, I won't ask you to continue my mission, but I only ask one thing. Remember me._

 _This was William D. Fox, Star Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel, Capital Wasteland, signing off. -_

* * *

This is the prolog of my Fallout fanfiction I wanted to publish much sooner but other projects came to my mind so I forgot about it.

I'm sorry for bad grammar or spelling errors, but I hope it is still enjoyable for most readers.

I won't promis anything about the next chapter but it is in progress, since I need to rewrite them to be more "professional", also don't forget to review since I really like to hear your opinion about it and add to it if you feel like it may need something extra.

Till next time, have a nice day!


	2. Chapter 1

(2281, No Man's Land, on the former border of Michigan)

It has been two days since I left the 14th recording at my last stop, and it was just my luck that I ran out of gas again, just when I was about to cross the state border. The Old World map of the states offered me little help; all the gas stations I managed to find were empty and/or already looted.

I was still far from reaching Chicago, but in theory I was in Brotherhood territory now, though as far as I could see this still looked like No Man's Land to me. The No Man's Land was literally what it meant; no one owed anything just crossed it as quick as they could. Of course this was the ideal place for raider, slaver and other scoundrels of the wastes to hide or make camp. Raiders and other gangbangers are supposed to control most of the traffic along the road, or that was what the last caravan said I crossed the other week.

I checked my map again and started pushing my bike along the road; the Sun was still blazing down upon me. Soon I should look for drinkable water, the supply I took from the last group of bandits was going to empty by the end of the day.

As I was pushing my bike for 6 miles now, my only luck was that the Sun was going down so the heat was lifted off my head. I managed to find a ruined building on the side of the motorway; it must have been an old motor inn from the pre-war era. The parking lot was littered with abandoned cars and a few skeletal remains of the former residents or maybe owners; unfortunately none of the cars were the type I could get fuel out. Who was I kidding; even if they were that kind cars that ran on fuel, it would have gone bad by now.

I parked my bike and covered it with a dirty sheet so if anyone wanted to investigate they might think it was another abandoned vehicle. I took my gear out and headed upstairs, the rooms weren't barred in so I could open almost every door without picking the locks or kicking them down. The rooms were a different story though, ruined beds, chairs and more skeletons, figures I thought.

I was able to find a relatively clean room with a bed intact; I closed then barricaded the door for the night, you can't be sure enough in No Man's Land. I wasn't worried about the window since it was dirty beyond any vision. I threw my bag on the chair then headed to check out the bathroom. Nothing, no running water, the medical cabinet was already looted; I huffed in annoyance then turned back.

As soon as I reached the bed I fell onto it face forward, I was tired, no more like exhausted for the day. Can't really blame myself, I was driving for days without sleep, and pushed the bike for the last few miles. My body wanted to sleep so badly, but I didn't, my mind protested against it. I didn't realized it but I was lying on the bed for 30 minutes now, it felt comfy as comfy as a dirty pre-war bed could be, and my eyes soon closed, surrendering to my need for slumber.

I woke up outside of the room, I wasn't even in vicinity of the motor inn anymore, instead I was standing on an empty road in a ruined city. Cars and trucks blocked most of the way, I hear gunfire in the distance, I wanted to draw my weapon but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Suddenly a member of the Brotherhood ran past me wearing the T-45d power armor. He was soon followed by another five carrying laser rifles while the last one was covering them with her Gatling Laser. I soon started to remember the scene, I panicked I knew this situation very well; it was the sole reason why I choose to leave the Capital Wasteland and make the trip across this desolate place in the first place.

* * *

(2281, BoS vertibird en route towards Philadelphia, four months prior to the present)

\- _Ok, so this is the situation. Our scouts reported heavy mercenary activity, most presumably Talon Company, in the area. The mercs have been harassing the locals, killing people left and right and selling the survivors as slaves to fund their operation._

 _Lyons gave us a clear order, go in, eliminate the head, then free any surviving civilian, if there are any. Any questions?_ – I was briefing my squad on our way to the ruins of Philadelphia.

Ever since the success of Project Purity 4 years ago the Brotherhood has been expanding its influence by using it monopoly on pure water and advanced technology. I was just a squire, on the way to knighthood when Nathaniel joined the Brotherhood of Steel. The guy got in by helping some scientist from Rivet City to safely escape to the Citadel from the Enclave. I honestly doubted Lyons when he let this vault escapee into the ranks of the Brotherhood, not realizing how mistaken I was back then.

In the following months, he impressed both me and Sarah as he slowly started to make a name for him in the wastes; and without noticing it he was soon put into the same power armor trainee group as I was in. I didn't care how much of a hero he was; he did get on my nerves on several occasions before Project Purity. I could say we became rivals, then friends inside the organization. We used to have our daily fights in the courtyard, mostly beating each other half dead before the sergeants could separate us, sometimes we sneaked out, climbed the Washington Monument and sniped super mutants for fun.

I hated and respected him at the same time, eventually after the successful assault on Jefferson Memorial our comradeship turned into respected friendship. He did more than all the Paladins could together to the Brotherhood, finishing the Enclave off at Adams Air Force Base cemented Brotherhood control over D.C.

Nate was made paladin soon after that, and helped us to expand our control beyond the Capital Wasteland. I was made paladin a year after him, I clearly remember the time in Baltimore, where we smoked out a bunch of super mutants to clear the city. Within the next three years, the Brotherhood had direct leadership over D.C, Baltimore and Richmond. We also managed to repair the railroad to the Pitt, so the city soon started to become more alive as merchants stopped by it, rather than slavers.

After our successes, Lyons decided that we should also expand north in the direction of Boston, The Commonwealth. Philadelphia and New York was made our next target of setting up a pathway of outpost and bases. The operation was easier said than done, no one expected to encounter the fortified Talon Company mercs and Enclave remains on the way, not to mention the raider dens too. Our expeditions barely made it to New York, and so our little war started to secure the corridor to Boston.

I was optimistic about the outcome of the whole conflict, though the Brotherhood had one problem at the hand. Our numbers did swell the past years as Lyons allowed anyone to join the Brotherhood from the wastes. The mortality rating of the new recruits decreased and our fighting force increased exponentially. This was both good and bad at the same time, true we had numbers on our side but there weren't enough armor to supply the rest of the recruits.

Even with some of the salvaged and repainted Enclave power armors we still lacked to supply everyone. Not to mention our weaponry, most of the new initiatives had/has to use solid ammunition based weapons like rifles, assault rifles, pistols and machine guns. I told Nate, that these poor people will most likely end up as cannon fodder and it turned out I was right.

In 2280 Rothchild called the Circle together for an emergency meeting, me, Nate and Sarah represented the youngest generation of the Order. Rothchild said we managed to receive an encrypted transmission from the West. At first Lyons thought our brothers from Lost Hills wanted to cash in on us. Later on it turned out that the signal came from a site called the Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado.

The transmission came in weeks ago, but it took Rothchild that long to decipher it to so he may present it to us. The result was shocking to all of us, even the old man's jaw dropped a bit at the fact that it was a Brotherhood code.

It was a message, more like a rally from one of our branches in the Midwest. Another branch of the Brotherhood that has cut itself from Lost Hills and was now calling out for other splinter branches like us. This realization was kept as a secret among the members until Lyons and Rothchild can come up with an answer, I was sent out to scavenge for communication equipment to boost our long range communication devices.

Nate was ordered to make a trip to Point Lookout for the time being, he said there was a ghoul named Desmond who may know a thing or two about tracking radio frequencies. Until our missions were completed we were put off from the front, the war for the "Boston Corridor" was waged on without us, claiming lives day by day.

It took us a month, but I managed to scavenge Enclave equipment that may be able to work for the purpose, and Nate convinced our "expert" to put a hold on his own plans, I knew ghouls were bastards towards humans but this Desmond guy was a class A jerk the whole time he was here.

In the end we were sent back to the front and let Lyons and Rothchild handle the rest, by the time I got back to the fighting a whole year has passed and I was tasked to lead an assault on the Talon Company encampment in Philadelphia. Nearly 200 men were put under my command, most of them were modestly equipped squires and knights, only a few companies had power armor and energy weapons to go around with.

As freshly named star paladin I never liked being in the back, I always fought from the front and so does Nate too. It became part of our friendly rivalry to see who can have the highest body count after each mission. This was the case with the current assignment as well, the vertibirds were to drop us 300m away from the encampment, and most of the "irregulars" were waiting and has already engaged the defenders by now.

I and the rest of the armored companies meant to act as vanguard for the first push. The vertibirds landed and shortly opened their doors for us to march out. The street was in ruins and abandoned car wrecks littered the way towards the first barricade. I heard bullets glancing off the vertibirds armor plating, it seems like they have long range weaponry too.

\- _Alright, everyone. Go, go, go!_ – I ordered through my radio and jumped out of the side of the vertibird, into the warzone. My squad followed me close and as soon as the last men left the transport, the flying machinery lifted off along with the rest.

The sight that awaited us was like The Mall in D.C, but much longer and it had no trenches and had less dirt along it. Instead it was ruined cars acting as covers and barricades, shoot up asphalt and small smoking craters left by mortar fire adored the road leading up to the first enemy barricade. The road towards the gate of the encampment was full of dead bodies of the previous waves of assaults before our arrival.

\- _Sir!_ – An "irregular" ran up to me and gave a quick salute.

\- _What's the situation, soldier?_ – I said through my helmet. Me and my company must have looked like the Messiah in steel for these folks. Deep in my head I pity them, common wasteland folks whose only problem was to keep on living day by day, until we arrived and forced them into an open war with psychopaths.

\- _We are so glad to have you here, sir! All our previous attempts to breach the barricades have failed; we have lost two entire companies and a half. Losses are not severe at the moment, but it won't be good if they keep this up._ –

\- _How much territory do they cover?_ –

\- _The whole park sir, from Liberty Bell to the First Bank, and that is only the southern barricades. They have further fortifications at Chris Church Burial and the Mint, the latter is their base of operation._ –

\- _Good, rally everyone behind us, and then be prepared to move forward. My company will make an advance forward while you cover us from behind. Provide suppressing fire if possible. –_ I said and then a bullet glanced off my helmet. The "irregular" ducked and looked up at me in horror expecting my brains to be blown out. I looked at the direction where the bullet might come from and armed my laser rifle.

She hesitantly nodded at me then ran to her own to pass on the orders. I watched my brothers and sisters take up formation, it is going to be a hard assault but I was hoping for a relatively positive outcome for us. In a few minutes we were standing in formation, I raised my fist signaling those behind me to be ready then motioned forward. We began our march towards the barricade, proceeding further up the road the wreckage became scarce, providing less and less cover for the "irregulars" behind us.

\- _Soldiers, follow us close. We'll provide covering fire, Amarty, fire that rocket launcher at that wreck 11 o'clock. Jayo, Ryle and Lasinsky commence suppressive fire with those Gatlings at those barricades, keep their heads down!_ \- I ordered them through the built in helmet radio. My men acted like a well-oiled machine, a rocket soon hit the truck causing its core to blow up destroying the left side of the blockade. The gatling lasers fired endlessly at the top of the makeshift walls and the rain of bullets soon eased up. The "irregulars" behind us came closer and opened fire from their weapons as well, covering the windows and any other position where the enemy could ambush us.

\- _Just a little further, men!_ – I said as I released a series of laser bolts at the top of the barricade. – _Keep on the pressure, we have then now!_ –

At last we managed to get to the barricade and the first knights along with me climbed over. The Talon Company I found on the other side looked at me in surprise as I hopped over the makeshift wall. He raised his assault rifle but I caught it at the end and twisted the gun out of his hands. The next thing I did was grabbing him and smashing his head into the junk wall, his buddies quickly caught on and opened fire on us. The bullets glanced of our armor like raindrops, we retaliated with heavy laser fire and it didn't take long until our volley killed the last of the mercenaries. With that we captured the objective; all we had to do next is to signal our boys above and…

I never expected them to be this smart; in the moment of victory I was too proud of my soldiers, my brothers and sisters. I didn't noticed the beeping, and the next thing was the feeling of being lifted up by the sheer force of a dozen detonating cars, and the chunks of metal hitting the armor, rendering it to pieces, shredding the people un protected.

* * *

(2281, present No Man's Land, abandoned motor inn)

My eyes shot open, my heart was racing and I was sweating like a Brahmin. I don't know how long I was asleep, but it looked like it was long enough for me to dream. I wiped my brows to get rid of the cold sweat, my hands were shaking. I decided to not sleep again for another three or more days, trying to survive in the day was enough, I didn't need that kind of excitement at night as well.

As I got up I heard noises coming from outside, the windows were too dirty to see anything so an crouched down and slowly opened the door to see something. I grabbed my silenced pistol and began to move out as silently as possible. I was really hoping it is not something serious, but with my luck it was always something serious.

Outside I spotted a band of raiders arguing with a whole bunch of slavers. They were discussing prices, the raiders seemed to capture a few indigenous folk from the Midwest and the West. I pitied them, probably the first "civilized" people these tribals met were slavers and raider scums like those below.

The haul was poor, or at least the slavers didn't agree to take this many for the price the raiders wanted to get. Three men and one woman, all of them wore tribal rags, these people called clothing and none of them wore shoes or any kind of footwear. A hazard in my opinion, but I guess nowadays no one really walks in the cities, since they are a greater hazard than just a few scrapes and cuts on the soles, but some may argue about it, but not me.

\- _So, ya dig?_ – The raider said spitting out at the slaver.

 _\- No we ain't_! – The slaver boss said looking at the slaves. – _You sniffed to many jets if you think I'll take these ran down savages for 500!_ – He pointed at the nearest man. – _They can't do jack shit, and my employers wants people for ah… fuck… Percy remind me again will ya?_ –

\- _Sophisticated, heavy duty labor._ – A bald salver said as he spat out the remains of his cigarette.

\- _That. So… you either take your 200 or…_ \- The slaver said but the raiders pulled their guns and other weapons out.

\- _Or what assface?_ – The leader of the raider gang said as he pulled a shiv out from it holster. Just then his head exploded, the one standing next to him soon followed in the head popping. Using the confusion to their advantage the slaver pulled their rifles and killed the remaining raiders off. Some tried to run but whoever shot the two before got them before they could disappear into the dusk.

\- _Or that will happen._ – The salver spat on the corpse then walked over to the shocked tribals. – _Alrigth, make camp and take these jackasses somewhere they won't be a bother. –_ The slaver boss ordered and his lackeys took the four tribal away.

 _\- Hey boss._ – A femine boss called out from the darkness. – _Look what I found!_ – A blonde woman walked down the stairs across my position, carrying a long barreled sniper rifle on her back. She motioned at the place my bike was hold up, I silently cursed inside my head.

\- _What? –_

 _\- It's a bike. –_

 _\- I know what it is, Ellie. I'm not dumb. –_

\- _It's in pretty condition, out of gas but… hey would you look at this._ – The slaver sniper ripped the sheet off of my bike. – _A Brotherhood insignia._ – She said inspecting the side of the tank where I painted the insignia on.

\- _The Brotherhood is miles away. How the hell its hardware does ends up at our turf?_ – Another salver pointed out only to be slapped in the back of his head.

\- _Think stupid!_ – His boss ordered him. – _If this thing is hear, then its owner must be close by. And you know… those Brotherhood boys and girls haul good shit._ – He said smirking a bit. – _Take the bike and search the area, our guest either comes to us, or we have to come for him, I don't care, but I want it alive, got it?! –_

Not only had they taken my only ride, they were hunting for me now as well. I seriously can't waste bullets on these idiots, but I needed to get the bike back. I looked around and waited until the group dispersed a little bit.

I quietly made my way towards the stair, while holding my silenced pistol close to me all the time. I cannot afford to fight now, I guess I have to take them on one by one; they took away the slaves leaving only one slaver to loot all the raiders. He was the closest, so I made him my first target. Sneaking up behind him while he was throwing away the junk he found on the raider. Grabbing his neck I quickly shut him up before pulling him behind a wrecked car and broke his neck. He immediately went limp, I wanted to loot the corpse, but right now it wasn't the time for that.

I continued on, crouching in the darkness, avoiding the lights as many times as possible. So far I managed to get two more without a single shot, but it was only a matter of time before they notice the bodies or the lack of lackeys. I finally managed to make my way towards the makeshift encampment; they already started a fire in the middle of it and snapped shock collars on the tribals. They event stationed a few guards at the place where they kept my bike; I guess I can't get it back without shooting.

\- _Good job scout boy_. – I heard a rifle being armed behind my head and a woman talking to me. – _But you need to hide your tracks better_. – I turned around only to see the sniper woman the boss called Ellie. The blonde slaver gave me a smug smile as she pointed the end of her rifle at me. It wasn't a regulars hunting rifle, it was a legitimate military grade anti-material one, and for a sec I wondered how in tarnation she got such hardware from.

The woman whistled and the slaver got their heads up at her call, it wasn't long before they got to me and I had to discard my only weapon. I raised my arms and acted as cool as possible, meanwhile I was trying to form a plan to get out of this pinch somewhat alive.

 _\- Hehe… lookie here._ – The slaver boss came up to me with a lit cigar in his hand. _– I figured it will be a while until we can find you but, ol'Ellie got you for us before dinner._ – He inhaled on his cigar then blew out the smoke into my face. – _I hear rumor, ya know?_ _Rumors about ya Brotherhood boys and girls carrying fancy tech with ya._ – He began to walk around me. – _You folk ain't look so willy-nilly without ya power armor. Left it in the cleaner or what, am I right boys?_ – That was one of the worst jokes/ pun I heard from a sentiment being the past months. The slavers laughed out loud but stopped as their boss held up his left palm.

\- _You gut nothing to say? –_ He asked me, staring directly at me from close I could swear I smelled his stench.

\- _Look. –_ I began trying to sound indifferent and calm. – _I didn't want to do this but you have something I'm in dire need of, so why don't we discuss this like semi-sane men and let each other be on their way. –_ I offered more than I wanted to ask them. Just then something hard hit me on the back of my head.

\- _Nice work Ellie._ – The boss said and squatted down to my level. – _Ya don't really know how to read yer situation well kiddo. Since ya ain't in any position to negotiate. –_ He stood up threw away his cigar. – _Snap a collar on him and put him to the rest of the bunch, we might even get a nice load of caps for him at least. –_

" _Like hell you will_." I thought to myself and while they were listening to their boss I kicked out his legs from under him. Using the free seconds of the confusion I managed to get the knife he had on his vest out of its holster and threw it at the nearest guard. I managed to hit the bastard in the arm and in panic the guy started shooting blindly with his assault rifle. I grabbed the slaver boss and using him as a living shield I managed to evade the volley of the two slavers that gunned their own boss down to kill me.

I drifted behind cover and waited until they empty their barrels, meanwhile I was on a lookout for the sniper. She disappeared right after the shooting began; as the bullets tore into the stone I accounted my options. I needed my bike, for that I had to get through a whole armed group, the sniper was nowhere to be found and I was unarmed. Nate would have probably pull out something useful from his ass, but I didn't have the ability to magically fit an entire armory into my pants.

Waiting for them to change their magazines, I noticed that the air vibrated slightly near my cover, I know what that meant. So that is how she did it, I pretended I didn't notice her and looked outside from my cover, allowing the sniper to come closer. I grabbed a handful of dust, and pretended I was waiting to throw it at them. When the sniper got close enough I turned around quickly and chucked a handful of dust and pebbles at the invisible figure.

She began hacking, and the dust highlighted her figure so I could jump at her now. Wrestling her to the ground I tore the stealthboy off her wrist. The woman named Ellie now became visible and she was gritting her teeth at me. She kicked me off of her and wanted to take out her side arm but noticed her holster was empty. I patted myself on the shoulder, and even allowed small smile as I aimed the revolver at the woman.

I only shot twice, both shots were a miss since she was to agile, for a slaver she was really good, I admitted. Forcing her to take cover I turned towards the other two slavers, four bullets that were all I had left. I aimed and pulled the trigger once, I hit one of them on the head, dashing out of cover I pulled the trigger a second time, I managed to hit the other in the shoulder and with a leap I was on him.

I grabbed his gun and we were now in a fierce tug-o-war of who can have the assault rifle. I was trying to avoid getting to the other end of it so he would shoot me. He forcefully tried to kick and push me away but I didn't give up that easily. We were twirling for quite some time before his head exploded, splattering blood and chunks in my face. I grabbed the gun and released a series of shots at the sniper's position.

I could see the anger in Ellie's eyes; she didn't even bother to get in cover to make the shot at me. It turned out I was lucky enough that in the last second I managed to turn the slaver around, so she hit him instead of me. She ducked down as the first set tore into her cover, I used the chance to get closer to her, and while doing so I released few short series to keep her pinned.

I climbed up to her cover and grabbed the muzzle of her anti material rifle. She kicked out at me and tried to use her own gun to push me down. I dodged and kicked at her right side; she evaded in the last second and attacked me with the stock. I blocked the hit with my left arm, and managed to grab the rifle with my right. With a strong twist I tossed the rifle out and away from her, jumping back she stationed herself. In the same second she pulled out a bayonet and longed at my throat.

I caught her wrist and the both of us were now on the ground, she forcefully tried to dip the bayonet into my throat, I was using all of my strength to prevent her from doing that and kick her off of me. I managed to free myself by head-butting her, she stumbled back I got up and pulled out her own revolver. I still had two shots and I was ready to use it on her, regaining her senses she wanted to stab at me, but I hit her in the face and catching her wrist I twisted it, I could swear I heard it crack a bit and I was right, Ellie let out a painful scream and dropped the bayonet. Letting her go I tossed her on the ground, but she didn't give up, wanting to stand up I aimed the revolver at her head managing to stop her.

\- _It's over._ – I said staring the blonde woman down. She stared back with angry eyes, but remained silent. For a moment she looked at her rifle that was lying on the ground far away from her to get it and I aimed closer. – _Forget about it._ – I said warning her.

\- _Fuck you. –_ She managed to say and I heard a pin being removed and a metallic object hitting the ground.

I didn't expect she would go suicide on me; I jumped down from the high ground we were on, but instead of an explosion I only saw a blinding flash. Luckily I got far enough to only hurt me eyes, but I cursed myself for falling for the trick. The next minute I got back up she was gone, along with her rifle. It looks like I've already made my first nemesis in No Man's Land, as if the gangs, slavers and raiders weren't deadly enough, there was now a crazy woman, who is a very good sniper, wanting my head as well.

Not wanting to give too much thought about it I walked back to the slaver camp, it turned out that the captured tribals haven't left while I made a commotion. They were still tied down and collared. I don't know whether they can understand me or not, I warned them to do nothing funny while I search for a disruptor to turn their collars off. I found it on the second corpse I manage to kill by shooting him in the head with Ellie's revolver.

\- _Okay, now… I'm going to take those off._ – I said approaching the tribals. They tried to cover away from me but I stopped and lifted the disruptor up. – _I'm here to help you guys. This thing will get off those metal things off your neck. –_ I waved the device in my hand and motioned at my neck what will it do.

One of the savages allowed me to get close enough to get the collar off, the thing popped off in a second. The other soon flooded around me to free them as well, but I had to yell at them to only come at once. After freeing them the men said something in their tongue, I didn't understand it, but I guess it was some kind of "thank you" or thing. The woman however looked at me silently; eyes wide like a curious child. I was too tired to think about it so I just waved her off with a your welcome and surprisingly she left, I felt a bit relieved, I thought I had to explain it to her.

Looting the corpses I managed to scavenge 324 caps off the slaver and another 142 from the raiders. I collected their ammunition, along with the clips in their rifles, but left the weapons since I didn't wanted to travel with extra weight. Unfortunately they didn't have much food, water or medicine; the slavers had some decent supply of water and food, but only Med-Xs but no stimpaks. The raiders didn't even have those, mostly chems, mentats, jet and phsycho, I wasn't an addict so I had no use for them, I mostly sold them, and the sad fact was they sold good.

* * *

Ellie was furious; looking behind her a few times she had to flee another mile before she was sure she was not followed. Making camp and starting a fire was hard with a twisted wrist and little supplies. Jabbing some Med-X into her system she had an attempt to twist her wrist back into normal. After a few hours and two more Med-Xs her wrist was in a normal position again. She then wrapped it up and took up inventory.

\- _Fucking ass, fucking boy scout!_ – She cursed under her breath. – _Those were my last Stealth boys, and my revolver. I even left the spare mags with those dipshits. Fuck!_ – She tossed her bag away.

Looking into the fire she couldn't think about anything but getting back at the Brotherhood soldier. On that night she swore, the next time she crosses him, she'll have him by the balls and be sure to end him as painfully as she could.

* * *

The next morning I set out early to make a good tack before the heat kicks in, damn I wished it was a nuclear winter instead of the fucking heat. I occasionally stopped to have a few sips of water and to check me course. So far I was on the right track; I looked at the pre-war map and traced my eyes along Road 34. I decided to follow it until I reach a town called Osseo and then get off of it and continued forward on land.

I sighed; I still had a long way to Chicago and limited supplies. I wish I could have taken a vertibird ride, but almost all of them are probably in New York by now and the rest is in D.C to patrol the area. Spending a few more extra minutes in the shade I noticed something coming at me from the horizon. It was too far for me to see it clearly but I hoped it is not some raider scout, or gangbanger.

I took out my binoculars and spied the horizon; I couldn't believe what I saw. It was that tribal woman from last night. I got confused, either we were heading in the same direction or was she waiting for me to show up, I couldn't decide, but then again I haven't said anything but a few short words to her so, she waiting for me was out of the question. Yeah, it is probably a coincidence she was there, but then again she was heading towards me, does she wants something from me, or is just my imagination from this heat.

I decided to wait for a few more minutes, the woman stopped in the shadow of a ruined road sign. I pretended not to notice her and began to push my bike forward; reaching the road sign I continued to pretend not to notice her. Passing by I felt relieved, she didn't jumped at me or attacked me so… it must have been just a coincidence.

Just I was on my way I heard footsteps from behind, I stopped in alarm and they stopped. No way, was she following me? I didn't want to look back, I might be just imagining things, and what would a savage want with me. She seemed… docile last night, so I didn't understand why she would be following me. I began to push forward again, and the steps followed in pursuit. Alright, this was official now, she was following me. I didn't turn around immediately; she might be dangerous against her appearance.

I continued on for a while waiting for a chance to make the first move. She followed ma just a few feet behind me, I unnoticeably reached into my coat and grabbed my gun. I slowed down pretending I was going to stop to drink again and when she slowed down as well and turned around in a blink of an eye and pushed her on the ground.

It was easy considering she was lighter than me; I soon loomed over her, aiming my newly acquired revolver at her. From the ground she looked back at me with a shocked expression, but it was surprised than scared. As if she wasn't afraid that someone was aiming a gun at her at point blank range at her head.

\- _Alright, what… do… you…. want?! –_ I tried to talk slow for her. No answer came, she probably didn't even understand my language. Looking at her I now had a much better view than last night, her two piece garment that covered her chest and groin was made out of some king of scaly leather or something on that line. Her hair only reached the middle of her back and was a bit messy, but most of it remained in a straight fashion. Her skin was tanned, I guess typical of the indigenous tribes; even her eyes were a bit slanted too. She didn't have any weapon on her, or at least nothing that could be used as a weapon, she didn't even have any shoes or boots on as well. Was she tracking on the hot sand and asphalt barefoot all this time, it seemed like it but I didn't care.

She got up and shot a curious look at me like the one last night. I grunted and put the gun away, I wasn't going to waste bullets on a crazy tribal. I allowed her to get up and for a few moments she was still watching me while I was debating what should I do now.

- _Look. –_ I broke the silence. – _I need to be on my way, and… don't really have much thing to spare. –_ I stopped to see if she understand or even comprehends anything of what I'm saying. – _But I might can spare a can and a bottle of water. –_ I opened one of the containers on the bike and rummaged through for some food and water. I finally found some Cram and a bottle of purified water. I reached out to her to give it to her, but she only stared at them like if she didn't know what to do with those.

\- _Great… -_ I said with a sight but then she cut me off.

\- _You are from the Brotherhood Tribe! –_ I heard her saying that cheerfully and the next moment she locked her arms and body around me in a strong bear hug. I dropped the supplies at the gesture caught me off guard and stood there speechless. – _I finally found you! –_ I heard her speaking again, while she smiled happily at the discovery.

* * *

So after months here it is chapter 1, I know it took months but I had my reasons for it.

First of all I had to wait for the release of Fallout4 to see what kind of plot will it have, when I noticed it was set in 10 years after Fallout3 I had to rewrite the whole thing to fit into the plot of Fallout4, mainly.

The second reason was that I was working on anther project, which gave me the time to wait for Fallout4, but better late than never, right?

So here he is my OC from the Fallout series:

Start-Paladin William David Fox

Age:23; Gender: Male, Caucasian;

Strenght:6

Preception:4

Endurance:5

Charisma:5

Intelligence:4

Agility:3

Luck:1

Perks: Strong Back; Steady Aim; Pain Train; Awareness; Cap Collector; Lone Wanderer; Medic; Hacker; Gunslinger; Commando; Fortune Finder;

Plus: Energy Weapons bobblehead: +25% Crit chance with energy weapons

* * *

These perks and attributes may change through the story, and I may add a few more non-canon ones to spice it a bit. Also some of these perks may come from Fallout 4, I didn't have time to check it throughly. I hope you will enjoy it and I'm sorry for the grammar and spelling errors.

Feel free to review and share your thoughts with me, but please in a way of constructive criticism if you would like me to correct something.

Till the next time!


	3. Chapter 2

I was standing there for minutes, until I finally managed get a on the grasp the situation. The tribal woman was still clinging to me like an excited child, while cheered: " _I found you, I found you."_ in a childlike manner for the dozen time. I shaked her off of me and pushed her away to keep a distance.

\- _What… are you talking about? –_ I asked her stepping back, away from the woman. – _Were you following me from last night? –_

\- _No. –_ She bluntly answered rocking back and forwards a bit. – _I was looking for you._ – She said.

\- _Same thing!_ – I declared then sighed, trying to calm myself down. I guess I won't be able to shake her off that easy, I might as well ask her what did she meant by Brotherhood Tribe, but I had a few wild guesses.

\- _So… uh… -_ I began but I realized I didn't even ask for her name.

\- _Jay. –_ She said with gleaming eyes. – _Or you can call me Echoing Shadow! –_

\- _Echo? –_ I asked her, I knew little to nothing about tribals and their customs so the name came out a surprise. I recalled, that someone once told stories about them in D.C, they live in small communities, some nomadic, some settled. They don't know much about technology and rarely use sophisticated weaponry, other than spears, bow and arrows and such.

\- _My tribe calls me Echo, but the Brotherhood Tribe calls me Jay. You are from the latter so you can call me that. –_ She smiled at me the whole time she said that.

\- _Ooookay_. – Something in her personality gave me doubts about her sanity, but at least I got what I wanted. – _I'm Star-Paladin Fox, you know the Brotherhood of Steel?_ – I introduced myself to her.

\- _I know only about the Brotherhood Tribe. And your name does not suit you well._ – She answered while cheekily put her hands on her hip, trying to sass me.

\- _Look, I don't care about my name. How do you know about me, and why are you saying you have been looking for me? –_ I said while frowning at her, which earned her to turn her back on me.

\- _You are a grumpy fox, who doesn't even look like a fox. I already said, I was seeking the Brotherhood Tribe, are you not from them? If not, then why are you holding their crest? –_

This woman was slowly getting on my nerves; nothing she told me made much sense or at least held relevant information. I grunted and picked both the Cram and the bottle up from the road and put them away. I also put away my gun and prepared to continue on with my journey, I honestly didn't want to leave her behind, but I had a feeling I won't be getting anywhere if I continue to reason with a local.

\- _Hey! –_ I heard her shouting from the distance. Took her long enough to notice I left, I heard the soft tapping of her bare feet as she was running along the road to catch up to me. – _You can't leave me like that Grumpy Fox! –_ She huffed after me as she finally caught up with my pace.

\- _Don't call me that! –_ I said continuing to push my bike. – _And who said you can come whit me? –_

\- _I need to find the Brotherhood Tribe! If you are not with them, then you can lead me to them. You wear their crest; you must know where to look for them. –_ She was really pushing my buttons to annoy me.

\- _I can't lead you to them, unless I know for sure you won't cause trouble for us. The Brotherhood has its own routine; we can't allow it to be compromised by you or any other tribal. –_ I explained to her as clearly as possible and I hoped she gets the message.

\- _Grumpy Fox. –_ Here we go again I thought. – _Why are you pushing that thing, instead of sitting on it? I saw the Brotherhood Tribe using these, but they never pushed it to move, they moved by sitting on it. Didn't you know?-_

 _\- I said to drop that name, and secondly I know that, but you see. There is a thing called gasoline which I need to make the bike, not thing, to move by its own. –_ I was seriously running out of patience for the savage woman. I know I should be more considerate, but this heat was getting the worst out of me.

- _What is gasoline? –_ She asked still walking beside me.

- _Fuel. –_

 _\- What is fuel? –_ Oh for Creator's sake. I stopped and wiped my face in exhaustion. Since my head began to ache I took out my canteen and took a sip of water.

\- _Listen… if you are still insisting on following me… -_ I began but, she got ahead of me.

 _\- I do! –_ She declared without consideration and childlike enthusiasm in her voice.

\- _Then we have to lay down some rules. –_ I said ignoring her comment. – _First, you can't ask me dumb questions all the time. –_

 _\- Why? –_

 _\- Ah-ah, you just did it. Secondly, since my resources are scarce, we need to lump everything we find together and ration it out. Thirdly, you have to tell me why you want to find the Brotherhood. Right? –_ I listed the ground rules and she crocked her head at my words as if she didn't get it.

\- _I get it! –_ She finally managed to say after a cool minute of silence. – _Don't worry; I can get my own feed and water. I don't need your poison you call feed. –_ I would be lying if I say that didn't surprise me. – _Also… I want to find the Brotherhood Tribe for bed. –_

 _\- For a bed? –_ She was officially nuts in my book now.

\- _No! For bed. –_ She scolded me as if I was the one who was talking nonsense. – _Everyone knows who goes to seek out the Brotherhood Tribe they can get a bed and a tent to stay in. And the Brotherhood Tribe has a great hut, carved into the mountains far beyond the Big Water and the desert. –_

 _\- Oh… -_ I said trying to make sense out of her explanation. – _You mean to join them, right? –_ I somewhat hesitantly asked and expected something completely different for an answer.

\- _Yes! Are you seeking them for bed as well? –_ She cheered on me and her eyes gleamed at me again as she said those words. At least we are making some progress on defining our goals in life.

\- _No, I already have a "bed" within the Brotherhood. I seek them for something more important. –_ I was trying to explain, using her terms to be clearer. – _It is not something you can understand, and you are not an official member of the Brotherhood, yet. So I cannot tell you. –_

 _\- Grumpy Fox… -_ She began to call me by the stupid nickname again.

\- _I said to…-_ I began to say to drop it, but then a bullet flew by my ear and hit the car behind her. I looked behind me and saw that a raider waving his rifle was yelling to his friends, he had found us out. – _Great… Jay you should… -_ I ducked down and wanted to warn her but she was gone, what was with me and women disappearing when I'm in danger. Don't tell me she is also using stealth boys as well, I haven't see anything on her wrist so, it was very unlikely she had one on her.

I couldn't worry for her, as the bands of raiders were now onto me, shooting and cursing at me to come out. My bike was out in the open and a few stray bullets managed to hit it, I could only pray that the tank won't suffer a leak. I drew my gun and began to fire back at them from my cover. I only could count on blind fire, so I wasn't sure if I hit anyone, but from the salvo of bullets it seems that I was unlucky with my shots.

I crawled to a better position and was now able to duck out a bit for better aim. My first series of shots managed to hit and kill two of the raiders, causing the rest of them to fall behind cover. I still didn't know where Jay was, but since I haven't heard any of the crack heads making any remarks of killing or finding a woman, so I thought she escaped a long while ago.

I was about to duck out of my cover to fire back, until I hear one of the raiders screaming in surprise. As I peeked out, I saw Jay behind the raiders with a machete as she cut the raider's throat open; the rest of the group didn't even notice her until she killed the raider who spotted her.

Using her diversion, I charged out from my cover while firing at them. I hit one in the head and Jay killed the other one. The only survivor turned his back on us and tried to run away, but Jay threw her machete at him and precisely hit him in the back of the neck. At that moment I couldn't decide whether to be impressed or afraid.

I began to search the bodies, while Jay walked over to the dead raider to retrieve her machete. What scared me little that when she came back there was a childish smile on her face as if she was asking me: "Did I do well?"

We got 108 caps and a few chems out of them, unfortunately they didn't use the kind of ammo I needed, so I could only collect those for sale, if we ever find a civilized place to sell them in. Not wanting to carry extra weight I left their weapons, meanwhile Jay was looking out, or to be exact watched me as I took my time looting. When I turned back to her she was sitting on top of a wrecked car, dangling her legs.

\- _Would you mind telling me where the Hell were you all this time? –_ I asked as I walked past her position.

\- _I went to look for something to fight with! –_ She cheerfully declared. – _They took my weapon when I got captured, you can't expect me to fight barehanded can you? –_ She scolded me as if I was not making any sense.

\- _Good. –_ I said as I packed away the loot. – _At least I won't have to worry about protecting you all the time. –_ I answered and locked the trunk of my bike, just then she hit me in the shoulder.

\- _As if! –_ She pouted at me. – _I ventured all the way here from the marshlands; I think I can handle some trouble. –_

 _\- Marshlands? –_ I asked suspiciously. – _Where are you from actually? –_

\- _I hail from the northern regions, once called the Great Lakes by our ancestors; my tribe lived on the northern shores of the furthest one, named Ontario. –_

\- _And you say you made it here all on foot, by yourself? –_ I inquired further but at the same time began to push the bike and we continued talking on the way.

\- _I did. When the Brotherhood Tribe came to our village they showed many wonders called: Tecology. –_

 _\- It is technology, but go on. -_ I corrected her, but encouraged her to continue.

\- _They chased away a rival tribe, who came from the south. They wore clothes of metal and carried weapons that shot smiting fire, turning our adversaries to ash with a single bolt. In return they asked us about the City of the Great Spire. –_

\- _City of Great Spire? What did you tell them? –_

\- _That it is not worth risking their lives… you see. Many eons ago, when our ancestors inhabited the city, and the lakes haven't flood the lands, warriors came bringing fire on the city, they say women and children wept while the men fought and were killed by the tribe called the U.S. The U.S Tribe took the city and the streets were filled with woe, the blood and tears of our ancestors filled Mother Ontario on that day, as punishment the sisters of Ontario brought the Great Fire on the U.S Tribe which ended them and the world around us as punishment. –_ She stopped and walked beside me in silence with a serious expression on her face for the first time since we met. – _The elders tell this story to remind us that violence incited by greed and hatred will never do us any good. The Brotherhood Tribe listened but they still ventured inside the city, they returned unscathed, the elders took it as a miracle and they explained that the Brotherhood Tribe entered the city with pure intentions, thus not earning the wrath of Mother Ontario and her sisters. They left, but since that day, they are recognized as pure warriors of the Great Lakes, the tribes who also came across them told about, them offering bed and shelter for those who are willing to join them. So I decided to make the journey, as a sacrament to become stronger, so I may join them in their noble cause of peace and purity. -_

This woman managed to surprise me the second time this day, first I've never expected her to be a silent killer who can jab a machete into someone's neck from 10 feet and have this much dedication towards the Brotherhood. I was still far from trusting her, but I got to give it to her, she might be a good addition to our forces.

We continued on for another ten miles, Jay was keep asking me questions all the way, her serious demeanor completely disappeared and reverted back to her childish, annoying and curious attitude. Every explanation just lead to more questions, even the simplest things didn't seem to make much sense to her, and I must say she was starting to get on my nerves.

\- _So… if you what you said is true… then can you really use Brahmin milk as cure? –_ Sheasked for the fourth time.

\- _Yes, and please knock it off already. –_

 _\- Why? There is so much wisdom in your words; the Brotherhood Tribe is really wise. –_ She mused.

 _\- It is common knowledge, you know? From the place called Civilization! –_

 _\- I wish we would come across a store hut… -_ She said gazing off into the distance.

The Sun was way past noon and looking at my pip-boy it was already 3:40 p.m. Though, it didn't make the weather much better, the Sun was still blazing down on us, which made me stop more frequently to drink some water. When I offered some to Jay, she only shaked her head and said she'll find her own in due time. I would have argued with her on that, but it was too hot and I was too tired to do that.

\- _Grumpy Fox, look! –_ She excitedly claimed running forward down the road. I was about to yell back at her to drop that nickname until I saw what she meant.

We managed to stumble upon an abandoned store complex along with several smaller shops along the road. This could mean that there was a settlement nearby, but the chances of being inhabited by reasonable people was slim. Also this whole suburban store complex might be a raider fort as far as we know.

I wanted to share my idea with Jay, but she already ran off towards the stores. I cursed and began to push the bike down after her; by the time I got down I lost her yet again. I found a place to hide my bike and covered it with the same dusty canvas to make sure they'll take it as wreck.

After that I started walking towards the store complex, it was a smaller Super-Duper Mart. Usually these are the most common nest for raiders and other jet-junkies to settle in, but since no one began to shoot at us or scream obscene nonsense at us, I hoped it was just picked clean.

I carefully pushed the doors apart and looked around for traps. I found no wires, or springs so I decided to step inside. As I guessed this place was a total mess and was just an empty mess. I began to walk down the aisle in front of me and searched the shelves with my eyes, nothing but empty can, broken glass, Nuka-Cola bottles, which were of course also empty, and trash. I arrived to the pharmacy section of the store; there I managed to find an unopened first aid box and some small metal crates. From those I got five stimpaks, Buffouts and a med-x, so far so good, but I was hoping for something more spectacular.

I put the stuff away and turned around; as I turned around I found Jay's face less than an inch away from mine. She was looking at me with childlike curiosity and was silently asking: "Whatcha doin'?" I couldn't help but scream in surprise and I instantly reached for my gun. It almost took me another second and I would have capped Jay in the head. My heart was pounding like crazy for another ten seconds while Jay was laughing her ass off on the floor.

\- _Damn it woman! –_ I yelled not caring if anyone beside us heard it. _– I could have killed you! Why the Hell would you sneak up behind me, and why would you… -_ I couldn't finish as Jay showed a box of Sugar Bombs close to my face and smiled with childish joy.

\- _I found a bunch of these behind a door! –_ She excitedly claimed and stood back to show a whole bunch of more boxes of Sugar Bombs, Salisbury Steak and BlamCo Mac & Cheese. I looked at the pile, then back at her, then back at the pile again and lastly at her.

\- _How on Earth did you… -_ Was all I could say. Even though this was a bit too much I figured we would need it, since now there were two people who were travelling for who knows how long. This stash will keep us going for days, or weeks if we ration it out. Then again, there was the question: "How did she do it?"

As I put away my revolver she already tore open the box of cereal and began to wolf it down. She consumed the dry cereal with so much delight as if Sugar Bombs were the most delicate dish in the whole world, well after a nuclear war I wouldn't be surprised if it actually were. She finished with the box and was ready to open another one, but I took it out of her hands. At that she looked up from her excitement and shot me a pouting look.

\- _Don't gorge all of it down at once! –_ I ordered/scolded her. – _We must ration these out, if we want to keep on going without starving, and also… you'll get a stomach ache if you eat this much sugar at once, and I'm not going to stop while your body rids itself from it. –_ I said and gave her a Rad-X pill. – _Also, you should take this… those things are irradiated you know._ –

I hoped she'll have enough temperance to not eat most of the supplies she found, I left her to scavenge a little bit longer. I was pretty sure she stuck her tongue out at me for not letting her have her fill, but I couldn't care less about it.

As I expected the rest of the building was empty, her haul was the only lucky one, beside my small stash of meds I found at the pharmacy section. We scouted the rest of the area, but found nothing of use to us. Well… I couldn't find anything to be honest; Jay somehow always stumbled upon something that might be useful on the way. They were usually caps, bobby pins, some chems and stimpaks.

When we returned to my bike, I was glad that she had the self-control of not eating half of our food. It was already past five, but I suggested that we should trek for another mile or two before making camp. For some reason she agreed, silently this time, and was walking beside me, behaving like a pouting child. I have an idea why she was mad at me, for taking away her treat, but I need to make her understand that she can't gorge down food as she pleases, if we want to survive out here.

When the Sun was about the set, we pulled over to a ruined building where we made camp for the day. As usual I hid the bike and began to gather some twigs and some dried weed to start a fire, but Jay beat me to it. She already found a few planks and some rags we can set on fire, I thanked her but she didn't say anything.

The Sun was half way down on the horizon when I finally managed to start a fire and poured a bottle of clean water into my pot. I usually don't prefer to cook on the road, since it would attract unwanted attention and guests, but since there were two of us now I thought it was safe enough to give it a go.

 _\- You can keep up the silent treatment; I won't change my mind from before. -_ I said as I opened up a box of Mac  & Cheese and spilled the paste into the boiling water. – _You can't expect to survive in the wastes if you are greedy. –_ I stirred the paste a bit. _– But I can understand that you are hungry… I met people… people who chewed their own fingers off, or have eaten their own friends, just to stay alive. –_ I calmly explained as I added the cheese powder to the mix, I honestly didn't know how could the pre-war people eat this stuff, or those who made this, thought it was a good idea to sell this junk and think it will be delicious, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

 _\- Disgusting. –_ She finally said something. I looked up and huffed in agreement.

 _\- Yeah… there are a lot of messed up people out there. –_

 _\- I meant the food. –_ She corrected nonchalantly. _– It smells so… strange. –_ She wrinkled her nose as she leaned closer to the pot.

 _\- Smelly or not, we can't let it go to waste. –_ I added as I stirred it a bit more. _– I don't like it either, but… food is food. –_

 _\- Oh, don't worry… -_ She said now looking up at the sky wondering about something. – _I'll still eat it… I'll eat anything if it is edible. –_ She said then looked down at me now.

Before digging in I handed another Rad-X pill to her, I explained that this stuff is radiated and can kill her if she lets the rads stack up in her took the pill and once I handed her plate over she began to wolf it down. Even if she said it smells, she ate it like there is no tomorrow. I hesitantly began eating; I recalled something similar being served at the Citadel's canteen. I hated it as an initiate, and I still hate it as a Star-Paladin.

I just ate as much as I needed, there were still some left over in the pot, but Jay volunteered to clean it up. I didn't want it to go to waste, so I let her eat the rest. I couldn't understand how a native woman like her can eat an almost full pot of pre-war stuff. Guess she was right about not being picky, although for her appetite her body was relatively small.

The bottom of the two-piece, tribal garment she was wearing revealed a slim waist, but concealed a wide hip, while the top strained against a sizable bust. Other than those areas, she was rather slim for eating this much. As a man, I had nothing to complain about, but as a soldier I still couldn't figure this woman out, which made me suspicious.

 _\- What? –_ She asked, when she noticed I was watching her eating.

 _\- There is something on your face. –_ I pointed out to draw her attention way, and she really was messy. _– How did you manage to survive this long? –_ I asked as she wiped her mouth and cheeks.

 _\- What do you mean? –_ She asked back at me. – _Is there a good way to survive? –_

 _\- No… I'm just curious since your attitude doesn't really boost the chances of living out here in the wastes. –_

 _\- I still don't understand you! –_ She declared with a sing-song tone.

 _\- You are childish. –_ I said it as clearly as I could; I was done beating around the bush. Jay remained silent, as she was trying to comprehend the words I just said.

 _\- Is that… a bad thing? –_ She asked crocking her head a bit, while looking curiously at me.

 _\- Only if you are an adult. –_ I answered. _– And as far I can see you are one. –_

 _\- OOOHHH. –_ She mused for a bit then busted out laughing. _– Then I'm childish! So what? –_ She said between giggles.

\- _Being childish is not something to be proud of._ – I started to elaborate for her. – _You won't be surviving out here too long if you keep up acting like that. –_

\- _I can manage just fine_. – She sassed back. – _You don't know about the adventures I had to find you._ – She smiled at me with gleaming confidence.

 _\- What you can do alone won't matter once you join the Brotherhood._ – I retorted back at her. _– You'll be assigned into a team; you need to consider the needs of others, especially your teammates._ – I continued and put the pot away. – _You'll be expected to learn discipline… so in short, you can't afford to be childlike. –_

She frowned at me then pouted, it seemed that she didn't want to listen to me, but I wasn't sure to be honest. I hoped that she was reasonable enough, to understand my point, and true I can't expect her to change overnight, but it'll be better for her to know this now, than to realize it the hard way later.

We went to sleep soon after dinner, or at least I went to sleep, last time I checked on her, Jay remained wake for quite a long time. The next morning I woke up to a slight pain in my head, I took a sip of water from my water bottle; I really need to watch my hydration. I looked around, but couldn't find Jay anywhere nearby.

I got up from the ground and had another look around the vicinity, but still no signs of her. She also took her stuff along with her, or at least I couldn't find the machete she found and killed that raider with. I assumed that she had a change of heart, and realized that hardcore disciplined Brotherhood life didn't seem too appealing for her so she left. Honestly, it was for the best, for both sides I guess.

I was in the middle of packing up, when I heard a dragging sound behind me. I readied my revolver and was ready to turn around and shot any given time. I turned around only to see Jay coming back, dragging some kind of animal behind her. She happily waved at me and continued her way towards our camp with her spoil.

\- _What is that?_ \- I asked looking behind the tribal woman.

\- _Provision._ – She smiled tiredly at me, dragging the dead wasteland creature closer to the bike. – _You said we have to do our best to survive, so… here you go._ – She said as she dropped the game and placed her hands on her hips, while giving me a content smile.

I actually wanted to argue with her about bringing the game with us, but I had to admit she was right in terms of survival. Also, I felt she only went set out early in the morning to capture this thing, to prove I am wrong about her capabilities. I rolled my eyes in defeat and let her enjoy her "victory".

- _So… where to now, Grumpy Fox?_ – She asked, once we finished packing up everything.

\- _Just Fox…_ \- I told her while frowning, I honestly hate it when she calls me that. – _And we… are heading west._ – I pointed out after I quickly checked my map. – _If we follow the road, we might get somewhere civilized hopefully._ –

\- _Shouldn't we look for some of that… feul thing for your machine?_ – She suggested as we began to get farther and farther from the shopping areas. – _It would make traveling easier._ –

 _\- Easier said than done._ – I said while pushing my bike. _– Fuel… is not exactly something you find at every gas station these days._ –

\- _How so?_ – She curiously asked me, walking by my side.

Things went on like this almost all day, once question lead to another just like yesterday. It was still a bother, but… at least it kept my mind of the heat and the weight on my back. I was surprised to find Jay's company somewhat reassuring. I don't know why though… maybe I spent too much time alone out here… then again… Nate was alone most of his life as I recall.

* * *

(2277, Capital Wasteland, five months after the assault on Adams Air force Base)

\- _This stinks_. – I said through my helmet radio as I and Nate patrolled along the road towards Fort Constantine. – _There is nothing here to patrol around for. –_

\- _Just standard protocol Will… we'll be done in a jiffy. –_ Nate spoke back from his side.

\- _You said you cleared this area out months before. –_ I retorted. – _Couldn't you mention that to old man Lyons too? –_

\- _Hey… I might scraped most of the hostiles around here. –_ Nate spoke up again, his voice cracked a bit through the built in radio. – _But I'm not the sharpest mind when it comes to technology… Lyons and Rothchild might want to salvage something out of this base. –_

\- _I wasn't talking about duty, bro. –_ I responded. – _Past months were pretty uneventful… makes me miss the Enclave… or the mutants. –_ I snickered jokingly as we and the patrol proceeded towards Fort Constantine.

\- _I actually like it this way more. –_ Nate said with a bit of a gloom in his voice. – _Not being alone… to actually have a place to get some shut eye and semi-decent food. –_

 _\- What about your friends back in that Vault? –_ I asked, actually being curious about it. I read files about these whole experiment things in the Vaults and stuff, but I couldn't really imagine life being shut in some kind of steel bunker for the rest of my life. I mean, I knew that back west the supposed original Brotherhood lived in bunkers, but… I just didn't feel comfortable thinking about it.

\- _I'm not exactly the guy they want to see right now. –_ Nate admitted looking down for a moment. – _Also not very keen on returning either… too many bad memories. –_

 _\- Do any of those memories have to do with that girl you talked about? –_ I asked without thinking and I realized too late that I hit a sensitive spot with my question. Soon an awkward silence came between us, and for an hour we kept on walking that way.

\- _Sometimes… I miss her. –_ Nate said after the long radio silence. – _Sometimes…I regret coming out… leaving my life behind, only to lose everything. –_

 _\- Sorry about that. –_ Was only I could say to him at the moment. I wasn't really considering him as my friend, but he was my brother in arms, and as such I cared for him enough to feel sorry for his loss.

 _\- Will… -_ Stopped, also making me stop along with the rest of the patrol. – _Fan out and secure the area! –_ He ordered to the rest of the patrol, leaving only the two of us together.

\- _What now Nate? –_ I asked, not sure about his motives.

 _\- Do you believe in what you are doing? –_ He came up with the question out of nowhere.

 _\- What do you mean? –_

 _\- Project Purity, the assault on the Enclave. You have been in the Brotherhood far longer than I am… do you actually believe what you are doing is right? –_

 _\- I honestly don't know where you want to get with this._ – I said shaking my head a bit. – _What I believe in… has nothing to do with the Brotherhood. If you want to know… if am I some kind of idealist, then no. I don't know whether we are good or bad, but I don't care that much… inside these suits of armor are humans. –_ I said and pointed at my chest, where my heart was to emphasize what I am about to say next. – _Living and thinking humans, who are also my friends and only family. Anything that threats this "family" is automatically considered bad in my book, regardless of reason or intention. All that matters that they came, shot, kill and we must fight back, simple as that. –_ I wasn't expecting Nate or anyone to understand my reasons, but I believed that it was simple enough to get the idea. What Nate said after that surprised me.

\- _Then we at least have one thing in common. –_ He said and snickered a bit in the radio, while also shaking his head at me. – _Let's get moving… brother. –_ He said as he went ahead of me. I watched skeptically, as he walked up the road, looking at his back as he got farther away from me, while still hung up on his answer.

* * *

(2781, present times)

\- _Fox…_ \- Jay began, wanting to ask yet another question. – _How is it, that you don't have a suit? –_

\- _Because it is heavy._ – I answered tiredly while pushing. – _Also… it runs on Fusion Cores… which are rare to find in the middle of nowhere. –_ I said and wiped the sweat off my brow.

\- _What are those?_ – She asked looking curiously at me.

\- _It would be too difficult to explain it to you._ – I huffed. _– In short… it is pre-war tech… a very handy piece of technology. –_

\- _Can I also wear armor when I became one of the tribe? –_

 _\- It is not a tribe_ … - I corrected her. – _But… yeah. Once you make it to the rank knight… you might get your own suit, but… I'm not sure how the Midwest Brotherhood does things, so I'm not really sure. –_

 _\- Why? Isn't there only one Brotherhood tribe?_ – She asked looking away and up the sky.

 _\- I only know about three…_ \- I answered not caring anymore.

\- _Is your tribe the same as theirs?_ –

- _I don't know… they have to be, otherwise they wouldn't have made contact with us._ – I said nonchalantly and stopped for a moment.

 _\- What is it?_ – Jay asked, also stopping in her tracks.

\- _Just need to take a breather… this thing is heavy…_ \- I panted and grabbed my canteen.

\- _I can help you carry some of it_. – Jay offered stepping closer.

 _\- I think it would be too much for you._ – I said after taking a gulp of water. Jay pouted and grabbed my backpack, yanking it down with a swift motion, taking it over for me. It didn't seem to bother her carrying the stuffed bag, noticing my expression she raised one of her eyebrows in a sassy way.

\- _You still don't get it do you?_ – She smiled back smugly. – _I can handle it just fine._ –

Alright, I can live with that, I said inside my head. Actually, it was great that she decided to help me out with the carrying. We took a ten minute break, then continued walking along the road towards the nearest settlement, or in this case ruins. I noticed that there are barely any settlements in this area. All the time, I was journeying on the road I was lucky if I came across a caravan at best.

The only civilization I found so far were raider camps, which can't be called your typical friendly settlements. They had loot, but the more I came across with, the less I had to take to avoid being over-encumbered.

\- _We should start looking for a place to make camp at._ – I said, once the Sun began to set in the distance.

 _\- Can't we just continue on?_ – Jay asked looking back over her shoulder. – _All I can see is road for the next miles… -_

\- _Normally, I would keep going on but since we are in unknown territory, I'm not risking to run in something that can kill us in the night. –_

 _\- That would be a good adventure! –_ She joyed once I caught up to her.

\- _There!_ – I pointed out the base of a large sign. – _Not much places where I can hide the vehicle, but it is better than nothing. –_

 _\- I'll scout ahead_! – I heard as she dropped the bag on the ground and ran off. I wanted to call her back, or do anything to stop her but she was gone. I saw her running along the road, towards the sign, but I lost track of her after a collected my backpack she carried all this way.

I made it to the base of the sign, looking up it was one of those Vault-Tech advertisements, encouraging people of the old world to make the call for a Vault reservation. I shaked my head, then stopped the bike next to the framework. I scurried around for a bit, to see if anything or anyone was near our vicinity, but there were no signs of life. I began to wonder where Jay could have ran off to, but I guess I have to deal with it if we are going to travel together.

I made fire and the Sun have already set, even the stars began to appear on the early night sky, but Jay hasn't come back from scouting. Not that I was worried or anything, but as time passed by I was seriously considering to go and look for her.

 _\- Surprise! –_ I heard someone yelling and the next moment I felt a pair something heavy, but soft pressing up against my back and a pair of arms hugging me from behind. – _There is nothing near us!_ – Jay declared victoriously.

\- _Damn it! I told you not to surprise me again!_ – I scolded her, after she let me go and sit on the opposite side of the fire. – _One day you'll get hurt or killed if you keep showing up out if thin air! –_

 _\- Not if I do the killing first! –_ She sassed back at me with a confident smile on her face. – _Still think I'm incapable of surviving by myself?_ – She asked smugly, while leaning back on the ground, stretching her legs and bare feet out at me.

\- _I never really doubted your skills; I only said to think a little about what you do before acting._ – I said regaining my composure from before. – _And I wish you would stop doing that. –_ I added the last part as personal request.

\- _Aw, sorry_. – She said sitting back up, hugging her legs to her chest. – _But at least I got a compliment out of you! –_

\- _Don't let it get to your head._ – I advised shortly after. – _You may have the skills to join the Brotherhood, but it takes more than just a few moves to actually become a full-fledged knight._ – I said, taking out a water bottle and my canteen.

\- _Say whatever you want… Fox!_ – She pouted at me and took the bottle out of my hand. – _I'm still going with you and you'll see… I'm going to be the best out of whatever you expect me to be! –_ She declared raising the bottle in the air.

I didn't really want to take her seriously, but at that moment, in my head I just said why not? Like I said, I won't be the person who'll burst her bubble, but then again if she really succeeds with her plans of joining the Brotherhood, then… she might become a fine soldier at the end of it. Who knows? I certainly don't.

* * *

Echoing Shadow "Jay"

Age: 21; Gender: Female, Caucasian

Strength: 4

Preception: 6

Endurance: 4

Charisma: 4

Intelligence: 2

Agility: 5

Luck: 3

Perks: Locksmith; Night Person; Lead Belly; Aqua Girl; Childish ( The whole wasteland is your playground, ready for you to enjoy; +1 AGI; +2 LCK; extra dialog options); Action Girl; Ninja; Sneak; Savage Ferocity ( Born and raised by the tribal society of the wastes, to become the fine warrior of the wilderness; allows melee weapons to be thrown from a distance (-30% damage); +50%damage with melee weapons; +40% critical chance with melee weapons; +50% damage against robots, raiders, slavers and other more "civilized" cultures)

* * *

So after a long wait here is the second chapter, I know that I couldn't ride the hype train (I'm 1 year late for that), but I hope that people are still interested enough to read Fallout related fanfictions. Anyway, I hope you'll like it, if you have any suggestions or ideas you'd like to discuss with me, then feel free to review or send me a message . I'm sorry for any grammar, and spelling errors, most preks here are from the game, if not then those with descriptions are made up by me.

Enjoy, and until next time! :)


	4. Chapter 3

My head was hurting, and I could feel something wet and warm dripping from my temple, down to onto face. My ears were ringing, couldn't really hear anything besides the sound of bullets being ricocheting of my armor. I wanted to stand up, but everything was so heavy, the servos of my armor must have been damaged for them to act this way, but I hoped that the rest of my armor was still functional.

I finally managed to turn onto my back, and saw the mass devastation before me. The barricade was blown to pieces; instead a massive, but not too deep crater was torn into the middle of the road where it used to be, the road was adored by burning wrecks of all kinds, cars, charred metal from the barricades and those who were on it. My rad counter went off a bit, the car wrecks all together didn't emitted enough radiation to kill somebody, but it was still above the acceptable level.

Trying to look around, to see if anyone else have survived the trap, but it turned out my hopes were futile. The irregulars were torn to shreds, either by the detonation or the scrap metal that flew everywhere. The power armored units were in a relatively better condition, considering that their bodies were in one piece. It was still sad to see these good men and women die, knowing that they are dead because of the most obvious trick in the book. I tried to stand up again, this time actually succeeding to do so, still searching around I found my laser rifle and upon retrieving it, I scanned the area for the bastards who did this.

Suddenly a bullet glanced off from my left shoulder plate, from the greasy smoke; I spotted a company of mercenaries, approaching me with their guns aimed at me. The first shot was soon followed by another, then a whole volley of machinegun fire, they knew what they were up against, which is why they were not hesitating to pull the trigger on a lonely paladin. With bullets continuously glancing off my armor, I aimed my Laser rifle at the group and began to retaliate their fire, making each shot count; I took the fuckers off one by one. Once I ran out of fusion cells, I threw the rifle over my back and charged at the survivors.

\- _An eye for an eye!_ – I screamed in my head as I plowed the first merc down with my charge.

* * *

I woke up in sweat, looking around; I realized I was no longer in the ruined Philadelphia, but somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I looked up at the rusty Vault-Tec billboard and sighed, it was the dream again. I took a sip of water from my canteen, and saw that Jay was missing again. This time, I wasn't really concerned about the tribal woman, though I hoped that she didn't went hunting for another game, since the one she caught for us was still tied to my bike. As usual I began to dismantle our camp, and by the time I finished, Jay also showed up.

\- _Fox!_ – She chirped running back to the base of the billboard.

\- _You really should give me a heads up before just leaving me all alone_. – I said, strapping the rolled up cot onto the bike.

 _\- Do you miss me that much?_ \- She beamed at me with joy in her eyes, - _That makes me feel happy in the inside._ – She blushed looking away in embarrassment.

\- _Sorry, but no_. – I remarked bluntly. – _I just don't want anything or anyone sneaking up on me while I'm sleeping._ – I explained and gave her a bottle of water. _– If we are to travel together, we need to have a shift during the night._ – I suggested as she drank the whole bottle up. – _Also…_ \- I said taking the bottle out of her hand. – _Try to conserve water, that bottle was meant to last for the whole day._ – I shaked my head in disagreement, and put it away.

 _\- Geeze, you don't need to make such a fuss about it!_ – She pouted as she picked up the backpack. – _We just find more._ –

 _\- That ain't that easy as you imagine it._ – I grunted and began pushing my bike.

\- _Yes it is!_ – She retorted running ahead and turned to face me, while walking backwards. – _And since you are with me, I can show you how!_ – She claimed enthusiastically and the next moment she turned around, signaling me to follow her.

I honestly couldn't decide how to feel about her at some times, we were together for two days now, which wasn't much to base a relationship on, but I often felt annoyed by her antics. Then again, maybe I just got use to solitude too much, that even simple human contact seemed bothersome. Whichever was the case, I had to catch up to her, before she gets us both in trouble.

Pushing my bike over the slight hill, I began searching for Jay. I spotted her in the distance, wondering around what seemed to me like more pre-war ruins. I had to give it to her, she was agile even with a heavy bag, I waved after her to wait for me, but she only waved back and skipped further away. There she goes again; I grunted and went after her as fast as I could.

Getting closer to the ruins, I figured that these buildings were not exactly the right place to look for water. I looked around for Jay, but there was not sings of her, she really covers her tracks well.

\- _FOX!_ – She yelled from above, from atop of one of the buildings. – _I found the water! –_ She continued with an excited tone. – _Come on! –_

\- _Keep it down!_ – I almost yelled back at her. – _Any jet addict goon can hear you from a mile away! –_

\- _Whatever. –_ She rolled her eyes at my comment. – _Hurry up slowpoke! –_ And with that, she was gone.

I searched the area for a place where I can hide the bike, after leaving my only vehicle in a corner, covered with the usual dirty canvas, I hoped that Jay hasn't gone too far off again, or got the attention of anything or anyone with her yelling. I found my way to the back of the building, and I checked for a way up, finding a ladder, I was now up where she was, before disappearing.

This building was quite tall actually; it was a good lookout at least, especially since there was nothing, but empty plains and road around the set of ruins. Scouting around a bit more, I found what Jay was talking about, a ravine in the distance, but it looked dry, so I didn't really get why she was so enthusiastic about it so much.

Other than a few plants and dried up bushes, nothing of particular interest was there, yet I saw the tribal girl picking around the plants. This honestly got me curious, I was no beginner when it came to survival, but I was no expert either, and the fact that I was not really familiar with the local wild life, made me a bit more dependent on her knowledge, but just maybe.

\- _So… where is the water? –_ I asked, after a small trek towards the side of the ravine, she was looking around.

\- _It's around us. –_ She motioned around the plants and the dried bushes.

\- _These plants are dead; I doubt there is anything… -_

\- _The bushes are dead, but these are not. –_ Jay claimed and kneeled down to one of the taller plants. She began digging at its base with her bare hands, until she reached the roots of this strange flora. – _Rain is much, much rare… but travelers say, when it rains it falls hard. They say that the Aquaplant is a good source of water, since it absorbs the rain, lots of water. –_

 _\- That's good and all, but is it drinkable? –_ I asked as I kneeled down next to her. I've never heard of a plant that could do that _._ If she was right, then the scribes should start finding out more about wildlife, rather than just tech.

\- _No… you have to clean it first. –_ Jay answered, and she took out her machete, cutting off a large root and unearthed it. The end the root was dripping something, which looked like clean water. I took the root from her, to have a closer look, but Jay kept on insisting to not drink from it.

\- _Why is it not safe to drink from it now? –_ I asked out of curiosity.

\- _Because it is poisonous. –_ Jay claimed the root from my hands. – _Not enough to kill you, but it makes you feel sick, tired and nauseous if you don't clean it first. –_ She explained and took out a rag from the bag she was carrying. – _We press it out then boil it, so that the poison will evaporate from the water first, but boil it too long and the whole water will evaporate too. –_

 _\- What about the rads? –_ At that, she looked at me, as if she didn't understand what I was talking about. Of course she didn't, but fortunately rads were something I could handle, with the amount of Rad-X on us, a few ticks of radiation were the least of our problems. – _Never mind. –_ I assured her, as I stood up. – _You won this round. –_ I complimented while dusting off my hands. – _But it will take more to impress me. –_

 _\- Then… I did good? –_ She asked, now sitting on the ground like a child. I only rolled my eyes and motioned her to follow me, this little pit-stop took some of our time, but the faster we get back on track, the faster we might reach Chicago, and the rest of the Brotherhood.

Walking back to the ruins, I wasn't expecting what was waiting for us there. As we appeared around the corner, a series of gun fire tore holes into the ground, barely missing us both. I rolled into cover, after I pushed Jay out of the way of the shots, and took out my revolver. Looking around, I found Jay, behind a ruined wall peeking out. I signaled, as clearly as I could, to lay low, knowing her spirit she was probably looking for an opening to jump or charge at whoever fired at us, but that would just get herself killed.

The shots were fired from a .50 cal. machinegun, or at least the sounds gave me the impression of something much heavier than an average firearm. My suspicions were justified, when another series of shots tore into my cover, tearing out chunks of concrete from the wall behind my back.

\- _Okay, that'll be enough! –_ I heard someone yelling, and the fire stopped, I looked at Jay from afar, and it seemed that they haven't spotted her yet, she was looking at me and I still motioned to stay low.

\- _Come out scout boy, we know you are here! –_ The same, demanding voice called out for me. – _We can do this the easy or the hard way… but hey… I'm feeling generous, so just come out and let's chat! –_

 _\- Who the fuck are you?! –_ I yelled, holding my revolver up close. – _What do you want?! –_

 _\- You know it all too well asshole! –_ The voice demanded. – _You took our stash the other day; we found the bike with the goods, so just come out and make sure you are unarmed, dumbass! –_

 _\- I have no idea what you are talking about! –_

 _\- He is full of crap Georgie, he took the food… he took the food! –_ Another voice, a much raspier one, probably a ghoul's, spoke up to this Georgie person.

\- _Shut it! Now… what's it gone be? –_ He addressed the question to me.

\- _Sorry, but it didn't write: Property of gung-ho, inbred red necks! What was I supposed to do? –_

 _\- Come out and this won't have to end bad! –_ Alright, I got them fixated on me. I looked at Jay and motioned to get behind them, but when I did she was nowhere to be found, oh God if there is one, I hoped she got the plan.

\- _Why should I trust you won't gun me down the moment I stick my head out!? –_ I yelled, trying to keep their attention on me. Shimmering closer to the corner, I peeked out a bit, to see how many were we dealing with.

To my surprise, it was a small army, with a truck that had a .50 cal. machinegun on top, aimed directly at my cover and… my bike! Probably the worst case scenario, I could get myself into, I couldn't afford to panic though, or lose my temper at that, I had to focus and trust Jay to get behind them, while I distract them long enough for her to do so.

\- _We have your ride. Lots of fancy stuff and our food… come out and you can have it all back, minus the food. –_

 _\- You haven't answered my question dummy! What makes me come out and not get shot!? –_

 _\- Have it your way then! Louie! –_ Georgie shouted and the .50 cal. began to fire again, this time it was tearing up the ground next to me, meanwhile I managed to hear the sound of footsteps coming from the other side, and soon saw a raider with a hunting rifle, appearing at the other corner. I aimed and shot the bastard in the shoulder, the raider fell and screamed in pain, his partner soon followed him and opened fire with his assault rifle.

I jumped out of the way, but one of the shots still got me, grazing my left thigh. I flinched in pain, but this was all I could afford at the moment. I aimed, but missed the first shot, the raider reloaded but as soon as he pointed the gun at me, his head got cleaved in half from behind.

\- _What the?! –_ I heard them yelling in surprise. Looking up, I saw the melee weapon sticking out from the back of the raider's skull. Jay really has a good aim, but this also meant that she was unarmed.

I dashed towards my cover, shooting another raider who appeared behind his dead comrade, and yanked the machete out of the corpse. The machinegun stopped firing, and I heard gun fire coming from the other side. Running out of my cover, I shot at the nearby raiders, drawing their attention towards me.

\- _There is two of these motherfucker! –_

 _\- I can see it too Moe! –_ The raider namedGeorgie claimed and slapped a few of them on the back of their heads. – _Gut the scout boy, Louie… tear down the house! –_

The .50 cal. came to life again and began firing at the opposite building; Jay must have hid behind it. I shot another raider, but I had to jump to cover, then moment I found my revolver empty. I couldn't afford to waste time with reloading the revolver, so I picked up the rifle of the nearest corpse, and blind fired from my cover. I have to silence that .50 cal. if we want to have a decent shot at this, but I couldn't just toss a grenade at the truck, since these mofos had my bike and with that, the canister.

I had to come up with a decent plan, but during the almost constant gunfire, a roar blew across the ruins and everything went silent for a moment. I looked over my cover and saw that from one of the ruined buildings, a large, horned shadow tore through the entrance way of one of the ruins.

\- _You have to be kidding me. –_ I muttered to myself, as the day just got worse and worse by the clock.

A large specimen of a Deathclaw was facing the truck, roaring as the fighting must have disturbed its rest or something. The creature charged at the vehicle, batting away a few raiders that stood in its way, and rammed the truck head on. The machinegun opened fire at the monster, but the Deathclaw raised its giant claws and tore off the gun from the top with a single swipe, along with its operator.

The raiders began to run, but some of them were either too stupid or too high and stopped to fight the beast, with very little success. The small arms and their rifles only made the creature angrier, making the Deathclaw tear into the crowd. Tires screeched on the road, as the truck backed away from the monster, with my bike on it.

I ran out of my cover, right after it, but by the time I could catch up to the fleeing truck, the Deathclaw jumped in between us. Realizing, that I was a much closer prey the creature growled at me, I didn't have to think twice on what to do. Not trying to fight it, I jumped out of its way and headed towards the buildings, I might lose it if I go to high ground, which meant the roof of that one building from earlier.

I still heard that some of the left behind raiders were still trying to fight the monster, but one by one, they were torn to shreds. I was close to the ladder, when I heard Jay yelling something in a native tongue, turning back, I saw her trying to fight the massive beast alone. Dear lord, this was beyond crazy. Cursing both her and me, I ran to her aid, reloading my revolver I released a few shots at the Deathclaw's back, but it was little use as the bullets bounced off its hide.

I threw the machete back to Jay, who now had a bit more chance to defend herself, but if we don't run or find a way to kill this thing, then we are both done for. Jumping away from the large claws, I saw that the torn down machinegun was still intact. Hopefully, it still had enough ammo in it; I looked at Jay and motioned at the gun with my head. She nodded, and tried to get the Deathclaw's attention off me.

Avoiding its tail and shooting a raider, who probably had the same idea as I, in the head I got to the .50 cal. It was too heavy for me to lift it without my armor, so I had to get down, and fire it while lying on the ground.

\- _Jay! –_ I yelled, and she lured the beast in sight of the machinegun. Once having it in my sight, I showed no mercy. I felt the recoil of the .50 cal. even on the ground, as the bullets penetrated the hide and tore into the creature's flesh. The Deathclaw howled in pain and backed away, just a few more shots I thought, but then the gun stopped firing. Just my luck, it jammed right before the thing was dead.

I was sure we were done for, but the Deathclaw just howled and growled in pain, backing further away from us. I guess we caused enough injuries for it to retreat, bleeding and heavily wounded the Deathclaw left us alone, crawling back to its supposed lair, into the ruined building, where it came out from just minutes ago.

I felt, I need an extra 5 or 10 minutes to fully comprehend the situation and my luck. At first a large group of raiders try to kill me with a .50 cal. machinegun, for "stealing" their stash a day ago, which I didn't know it was theirs. Then in the middle of the fight, a Deathclaw emerges, since we managed to wake the fucking thing up with our fallout, and goes on a rampage. The raiders manage to get away with my bike, supplies and the canister, which I was tasked to protect with my life, if necessary. Now, I'm here with nothing but a revolver, three frags, no supplies or vehicles, my mission's objective was just now taken, what else… oh, yes, the half-crazy tribal woman, who tried to take on a Deathclaw with a machete.

\- _Fox? –_ Jay walked up to me, with a confused look on her face, since she couldn't understand why I just froze, for what seemed like eternity. – _Fox… are you alright? –_ She asked, but she shouldn't have. I looked at her for a second, and then instinctively slapped her across the face as hard as I could.

\- _NO! I'm far from RIGHT! –_ I yelled in frustration, anger and with many other feelings I was bottling up for these past days. – _What. The. FUCK! What in Hell's name were you thinking! A machete? A lousy, fucking machete against a Deathclaw! You want to die so bad? Do you? DO YOU?! I cannot believe the amount of stupidity, to actually face a Deathclaw with a machete! Not to mention, that it was all for NOTHING! Fucking raiders took off with my bike, our supplies and the very thing I had to protect even at the cost of my miserable life, and now it is GONE, ALL GONE! DAMN IT! –_ I snapped, after saying my piece I couldn't help but to curse and swear more and more for a long time, I must have looked very pathetic doing that, or just maybe stupid, but at that given moment, I didn't care.

I eventually got tired from shouting and jumping up and down in anger, feeling exhausted I lumped down, in the middle of the road, continuing to swear and curse inside my head. Jay remained silent throughout the whole scene; she hasn't moved an inch since I hit her. The tribal was holding her right cheek and looked disappointed, like a child who just got scolded hard by her tutor, in her case; it was a very fitting description of her situation.

We remained silent for quite long time, I haven't moved from my spot and so did she. I don't know how much time has passed, but eventually I got tired of sitting and laid down on the asphalt road. I felt the intense heat of the Sun burning my face, but right now… I felt like doing nothing about it, I can't even remember the last time I felt this way. Closing my eyes, I began to cool down and decided to come up with a plan… I started to consider my options, until I felt a shade looming over my head, blocking off the Sun.

It was Jay, looking down at me with puppy dog eyes. Honestly, I almost forgot about her, I never seen her this quiet ever since we met, even when she was giving me the silent treatment a day before, she at least talked to herself instead. I don't know what to feel about her right now, I was still part mad, but part grateful, after all she did saved my life, and also got on with most of the plan.

\- _We need to get the bike back. –_ I said, in a much calmer manner than before. – _Those idiots have a good head start before us… and they also have a working truck with gas. –_ I listed, as I got up from the ground; Jay cleared out of the way and tried to remain invisible, still looking guilty about what happened. Just looking at her again, reminded me of a child who did wrong. – _They could be anywhere. –_ I said, then we heard grunting coming from under a pile of debris.

I marched towards the source of the moaning, and found a dazed raider on the ground. He seemed fine, maybe a few cuts and bruises, minor concussion, but nothing too serious. I grabbed the guy by his collar, and pulled him up to my level; this ought to shake him up a bit.

\- _Where are they?! –_ I asked, pinning the bastard to the nearest wall.

\- _Screw you both. –_ He muttered, and then laughed. Getting pissed, I pulled my revolver out and pointed the barrel at his temple before asking again.

\- _Where did your buddies go?! –_

 _\- Shoot me if you want, scout boy… I ain't worry about death; ye see… snickering Hell is going to be so much fun! –_ Great, the only survivor is a hardcore Jet addict.

\- _Okay, then I won't kill you. –_ I said and aimed lower. – _How about I shot your balls off instead. –_ I suggested, aiming lower with each word.

\- _What?! –_ He asked and I pulled the trigger. The shot barely missed his crotch, I aimed lower purposely and I wasn't planning on wasting a second bullet on another warning.

\- _Look… I'm having a bad day, I know your kind, all that talk about embracing death and stuff is just crap, the Jet talking out of you. But listen buddy… are you feeling it? Your heart racing and the blood pressure_ rising, palms getting sweaty… that is fear. I can cause you a great amount pain with just one bullet, and trust me kid…. I know you fear death just as much any sane person does, in your case I just have to wait a little while until the chem wears off completely and then… - I pulled the cock back aiming at his groin.

\- _H-Hey… girly… you boyfriend has gone savage… ain't you gonna… -_ He was now intimidated, the chems were wearing off it seems, and he was trying to reason with Jay, as if she could do anything. – _Speak to me love… don't let Uncle Walt lose his balls, please! –_ He pleaded to her.

I looked over my shoulder for a short moment to see her reaction, I was sure she would feel some compassion, or a form of pity for the guy, since I supposed she would feel a bit soft after what happened. In her eyes, there were no sings pity or mercy though, even that guilt was taken over by some kind of despise for the raider. Our gazes met, only for a moment and I felt like she was encouraging me to do it, funny… from a woman who acted all childishly almost every hour of the day, she had quite a stone cold, mean expression on her face.

\- _Ain't you gonna say anything darling? –_ He spoke up; this was the moment when Jay spoke up as well, in her own language. I didn't understand a word from what she said, and neither did the raider, but I was sure it was on the same level as a " _Fuck you_ ".

- _Today dumbass! Today! –_ I strengthened my grip on the bandit, who now didn't seem to be so confident about dying. I didn't want to wait any longer, each time we waste here; those rednecks get further and further away from us. I put my finger on the trigger and gave the man on last chance. He looked at me, hoping that I was only joking but unfortunately for him, I wasn't.

\- _The Coral! –_ He finally spilled his beans. – _Georgie and the rest went back to The Coral… t-that's where we and the others usually hang after a party! –_

 _\- Where is it?! –_

 _\- Heck man, I-I-I don't know… only Georgie knows the direction and the driver, me and the rest are usually too high to remember anything. –_

 _\- Bad answer. –_ I said and aimed low again.

\- _It has to be down the road! I-I mean… it has to be somewhere close, otherwise they would run out of gas… -_

 _\- Where the Hell did you get gas from? –_

 _\- There is a station… not too far from the place we hide our stash at! I-Its run by a group named the Barons… t-the Oil Barons! They have gas, oil anything that can be used as fuel and a fleet of vehicles! They might know… -_

 _\- Exact location! –_

 _\- South of Road 94, I think… I think around Jackson! –_ At that I checked my Pip-Boy, the map showed nothing but empty land and the location of the pre-war city… I guess I have to take his word.

\- _Much obliged. –_ I said, and shot him in the knee. The raider fell to the ground screaming in pain, while holding his bleeding knee.

\- _You said you won't shoot me! –_

 _\- I never told you that… but this is better than losing your junk. –_ With that, we left the guy, honestly I couldn't care less about him, right now our priorities were to find this supposed gas station with more raiders, so that we can find the raiders who took my bike and the canister, I can't help but to feel the irony in our situation.

Surprisingly we managed to make a good track; now that I didn't have to push my bike and carry all those supplies with us, me and Jay made solid progress towards Jackson. Luckily, her bag was left behind in that ravine before the shooting, so at least not all of our supplies were gone. Jay was still surprisingly quiet the whole time we were walking down the road, whenever I looked at her, she gave me the same childlike, guilty expression. It didn't take long for her to revert back, from being serious, to being childish again, as it seems.

As the Sun was setting, we had to find a place to stay at for the night. However, since we left those ruins, nothing in the general vicinity could be found that can be used as shelter. We decided to get off the road and make camp a bit far away from it; if we are lucky we won't be ambushed by anything or anyone during the night.

I took inventory of our current supplies and ammunition, while Jay started the fire. She was more than obliged to do it, I guess she tried to make up for the shoot out and the loss of my bike, and for a bunch of things she still thinks I am mad at her.

- _That's enough. –_ I told her as she started the fire, turning towards it she sat down on the opposite side, directly facing me across the flames. – _We don't have much to go by. –_ I said and handed a box of Dandy Boy Apples to her. – _I guess we can put our skills together and survive on whatever grows or lives in these parts of the states, but our primary concern should be ammo and medical supplies. –_ I continued, taking out the Rad-X bottle. – _Unless you have some idea about how to get by without stimpaks and stuff. –_ Usually she would be more than happy to finally be in the spotlight, but now she just shrugged and looked away, her gaze facing the ground.

I sighed and massaged my bridge. – _Look… you might think I am mad, and to some degree I still am… but I admit, hitting you was not the wisest. –_ Her gaze returned to me, and she was now actually listening to what I have to say. – _I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you… but you got to admit… what you did was reckless, crazy and probably one of the stupidest things in the wastes. I know you meant well, and want to prove yourself, but… the fact is… you have nothing to prove to me. –_ At this point, Jay hugged her legs close to her chest, her arms holding them, in a form of defense, while she was still listening. – _I-I might sound crazy, maybe I am… but from what I have seen so far, I can clearly say that you have great potential… the Brotherhood could use someone like you, and… I care about you enough to not want you to die, at least… not on my fault. –_ This time, it was me who felt guilty.

The events of Philadelphia came back to torment me, even while I was awake. There was just… this feeling, that weighted me down… for all of those men and women… standing alone, among the ruins… as the rush of adrenalin wore off… leaving nothing but corpses, wrecks and this strange feeling of emptiness in my heart. I hoped that being alone… might make things easier to cope with… however the past months, things got only worse. Maybe, deep down I enjoyed Jay's company… even if it was annoying, childish and bothersome at some times… at least it made the days go by without silence, so that I won't have to reminisce about Philadelphia.

I don't know how long I was thinking to myself, but by the time I looked back up; Jay disappeared, and then appeared beside me. I hate it when she does that, but without any words she gave me a hug. I don't know why… but this hug was different, it somehow made me feel… better? I soon felt something wet dripping down my arm, looking next to me, I saw Jay in tears, crying into my shoulder.

\- _I… showry… I'm sho… sniffsniff showry. –_ I heard her mumbling between tears. If I wouldn't know better, I would have said that this was too much crying over a scolding, but I knew better. I gently began to pat her head and caress her hair, to make her calm down, after a while she stopped crying and I helped her wipe away the tears.

Knowing that she won't be able to keep watch for the night, I asked her to rest while I keep an eye out. Of course, she wanted to object, but I didn't leave her any options on this one. Jay didn't argue with me afterwards, she laid down and after a couple of minutes, she was fast asleep. I kept looking into the small fire,while thinking about today and the tomorrow. I soon found my gaze on Jay; I knew better to just think those tears were just about a slap across the face. Obviously, there was more to it, more to her… than what she let me see, though… it is not my place to pry… after all… I might be the same as her.

I barely got any sleep that night, taking occasional naps I stayed up to keep watch over the small camp we made. Once the Sun began to rise, I woke Jay up and we cleared out the site before continuing our trek towards that raider gas station.

Jay looked and acted like her usual self again, but I was glad that she was considerate enough to not bother me much. I managed to come up with a plan, sort of… if we get lucky then that station might have vehicles… getting information will be tricky, but on the good side we might get fuel for the bike, if we get the location of this Coral place. But for now, the real question was that how many bandits do we have to deal with, once we get to meet the Barons that is.

\- _Fox. –_ Jay said, and pointed at something in the distance.

\- _What is it? –_ I asked, taking out the binoculars, they didn't manage to get this either.

\- _Is that where we have to go? –_ She asked, looking at me for an answer.

\- _No… we just got off Road 34… and that is not a gas station… or anything of sort. –_ I commented as I scouted the structure out through the binoculars. – _It looks like a farm… an abandoned farm. –_ I said after spotting ranching and a pair of run down silos.

\- _Is it worth checking out? –_ She asked looking at the empty farm buildings.

\- _In normal circumstances, I would say go ahead, but in this case we don't know what me might find ourselves up against. With the limited amount of ammo and meds, we can't risk it. –_

 _\- How about I go and… look ahead? –_

 _\- Can you do that? –_ Of course, it was a stupid question on my part, since the woman appeared and disappeared every 10 seconds. – _Wait… scratch that… can you promise me, you won't get yourself in trouble? –_

 _\- I can! –_ Jay enthusiastically declared, completely snapping back to her former childish self.

\- _I meant the kind of trouble, where you almost got yourself killed. –_ I pointed out as I packed the binoculars away.

\- _I can! –_ She repeated with a stomp and made a pouting face. Okay, I had to smile at that one, I offered her my other firearm, but she refused and only took the machete with her, saying that she is more comfortable with it. I followed her to a small hill, where I took up a lookout position and kept track of the surrounding area. Jay trekked down the hill and was now approaching the farm.

* * *

(Jay's point of view)

I must get things right this time… Fox forgave me, but I'm still sure he doesn't trust me. I'm sure if I find some goodies inside that wooden house, he will trust me again. Watching my every step, I walked closer to the buildings. No one seemed to inhabit it, maybe there is no one here… but what if there is? Will they be friendly or… mean like most people I meet, except Fox.

I sneaked around the two tall tower-like buildings and was closing in on the shorter building with the fences. As I got closer to the fences, the reeking smell of manure hit my nose, and then I heard hooves clopping against the dusty ground, around the corner I finally saw that a full herd of Brahmins were behind the fenced off area. They must be livestock, then this means that this "farm" is not abandoned. My thoughts were confirmed once I heard a click behind my head.

\- _Turn around… slowly. –_ A raspy voice ordered me. I knew that tone, skeleton people. – _You hear me? Drop the weapon and turn around Pocahontas! –_ I didn't want to comply, he sounded mean. I gripped the blade harder, and was ready to attack, I'm sure I'm faster than him… those boomsticks are too slow.

\- _You deaf or something?! –_ The skeleton man demanded impatiently, I didn't let him to think. I kicked back, hitting his stomach and with a swift turn, I grabbed his boomstick and twisted it out of his hands. This managed to surprise him, and we were now face to face, but without his stick I had the advantage.

\- _Whoa, whoa! No need to be hasty darlin'. –_ The skeleton man pleaded as I pushed the blade close to his throat. – _I-I was only testin' ya… great job by the way. –_ I couldn't understand him, test? Why would he want to test me, and for what? Maybe he is with the Brotherhood Tribe… but I didn't see the crest, I should ask Fox first, but what if he really is with the Brotherhood Tribe?

\- _Why did you want to test me? –_ I asked just to be sure.

\- _Well… I… uhm…. –_ The skeleton man started to mumble something to himself, but then I heard Fox's voice in the distance.

\- _Jay! –_ He came around the corner with his smaller boomstick in his hand. – _Get off of him! –_ He said and for a moment I began to hesitate, this skeleton man wanted to test me… so he might be… - _Jay! Get off. –_ Fox asked again and stepped closer to us.

 _\- But he was just testing me. –_ I said and looked back at him. – _He might be with the Brotherhood. –_

\- _No, he is not. –_ Fox's words were like cold water, but he knew more about the Brotherhood Tribe, so he must know its members too. I complied and stepped back from the skeleton man. – _Who are you? –_ Fox asked the skeleton man, while aiming at him with his weapon.

\- _Look, if Big B sent you… then let me tell that I was about to pay the rent, but things got a bit… complicated. –_ The skeleton man explained and Fox shot him a mean glance, and so did I after he did it.

\- _I'm no raider… and who is this Big B? –_ Fox asked, still aiming at the skeleton man.

\- _Ya ain't with the Barons? –_

- _No… but it seems you are. –_ Fox claimed, and aimed closer at the man's head.

\- _Look pal, I ain't with those bastards… I barely manage to keep this farm up… Big B sends his goons up every month to collect "rent" from me. But ever since every raider and Jet junkie comes here to refill, the caravans keep away from the Ol'94. –_

 _\- What kind of farmer are you? –_

 _\- Brahmin… I keep Brahmins… ya know… for the caravans and stuff. –_ The skeleton man pointed behind him with his thumb, not looking away from us. – _Look… I ain't want any trouble with you people… take what you want… and I swear you never gonna hear from me. –_

 _\- Just tell me where I can find the Barons, and we'll be on our way. –_ Fox said, and I looked at him. Why doesn't he want to take anything from the skeleton man? Maybe the skeleton people have nothing we want? How would Fox know that?

\- _Who are ya people? –_ The skeleton man asked, as Fox was not aiming at him anymore.

\- _You are better off not knowing. –_ Fox said and put the weapon away, I put mine away too. If Fox thinks skeleton face is no harm, then there is no need to be mean to him anymore. – _So tell us where to go, or else I change my mind. –_

The skeleton man looked nervous, even on his rotting face; I clearly saw he gave Fox and me a nervous frown. He talked, told us to continue down the road until we see the big smoke. Once we do, we should follow it until we find the Barons' compound; Fox seems to get by, even if he is mean sometimes. Will I have to act mean too, if I become part of the Brotherhood Tribe? Well, I guess I don't mind being mean, if the people I'm being mean to are bad.

\- _Wait! –_ The skeleton said as we were about to leave… by the time we turned around, he already picked up his boomstick, but unlike before he now had it behind him, on his back. – _You two aren't planning on… -_

 _\- Like I said… better for you to not know. –_ Fox said, as if it was the most natural thing. Why is it better for the skeleton man to not know? Does know things are more dangerous than not knowing them? I looked at Fox, hoping that he'll explain, but he didn't seem to notice my gaze, then I looked back at the skeleton man, he looked like he knew what was going on, maybe I should ask him instead… but then again… he might be as confused as I am.

\- _I see. –_ Skull faced said. – _Come in for a while… I don't know what kind of business you two have with the Barons… but I sure know that a girl with a machete and a stranger with one gun won't be able to last long against Big B and his crew. –_ He said and turned around, inviting us into his house.

\- _Why would you help us? –_ Fox said, not moving a step forward, good thing I looked at him before I moved, or else I might have followed the skeleton man inside.

\- _I know a couple of folk around here who would gladly give anyone anything to get the Barons out of their hair. I'm one of them. –_

 _\- I'm not really the hero type… what makes you think I won't join up with the raiders instead? –_ Fox asked, placing a hand on his short boomstick.

\- _I don't think… I know… scout boy. –_ There we go again, what was with this "scout boy" thing? The hag called Fox "scout boy", the meanies called him "scout boy" and now the skeleton man does that too. Is it a common thing to call him "scout boy"?

\- _How did you know? –_ Foy asked, giving skull face a mean glare.

\- _Come in and I'll explain, you too Pocahontas. –_ He said as he looked at me. I looked at Fox, who still had that mean expression on his face, but he eased up and let his weapon go. He looked less angry now, but I was sure that he wasn't really happy for being called "scout boy".

Eventually we both followed bone face into the house, to be honest I was happy that we can go inside, there might be food in there, and I was getting hungry.

\- _Fox, can we eat soon? –_ I couldn't help but ask, Fox sighed, then… cracked a small… smile? That was new… but then again, I was too hungry to be sure. – _What? I'm hungry! –_ I pouted, crossing my arms. He only patted me on the head and followed skull face inside.

* * *

I took long enough, but here it is Chapter 3. I read the previous chapters and I'd like to apologize for the bad grammar and the spelling, I try to improve on my writting as well, so I can only promise that things should go smoother. Having someone who could beta it would also help a lot, but unlike my other fictions, the person I am working with now is already busy with other project, so if any of you would like to help in anyways, I would really appreciate it.

Also, I hope you liked my story, if you would like to ask or share your ideas about, settings, bios and ect. then feel free to review or PM me.

Until next time!


End file.
